Medicines with the active ingredient roxithromycin have disappeared from pharmacies in at least 25 regions of Russia, Izvestia reports, citing data from regional pharmacies. There is also a shortage of medications with the active ingredients azithromycin, clarithromycin and erythromycin.
Author:
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There is a shortage of erythromycin in pharmacies in 12 regions, no clarithromycin in six and azithromycin in five.
Shortages of these four drugs are observed in Dagestan, Crimea, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.
RNC Pharma experts calculated that in January-August 2024, 10.3 thousand packages of roxithromycin were introduced into civilian circulation, while in the same period of the previous year, 11.04 thousand packages. In addition, in eight months, 787.7 thousand containers of medicines with erythromycin were put into circulation, compared to 921.6 thousand in January-August 2023.
According to the DSM Group, during 39 weeks this year, pharmacies sold 3% fewer packages of azithromycin medications than during the same period last year: 16.3 million packages compared to 16.8 million.
Harutyun Vardanyan, therapist and pulmonologist at Dr. Alexandrovsky Medical Center, told the publication that these antibiotics can be replaced with more powerful ones. The expert believes that the medicines that are in short supply are replaceable and their absence “is not a disaster.”
Dr. Pavel Khoroshev agrees with this opinion, but points out that in some cases what is needed are the missing medications.
“For example, to combat the Helicobacter pylori bacteria, which causes gastritis and peptic ulcers in 98.5% of cases, clarithromycin is prescribed. In this case there are no analogues,” said the specialist.
Roszdravnadzor denied information about the shortage of certain types of antibiotics in the Russian regions of the country. They stated that “the information is not true.”
“Antibacterial drugs are available in medical and pharmaceutical networks, including in the regions mentioned in the article,” says a message posted on Roszdravnadzor’s Telegram channel.
They also added that for all these medications, a stable introduction into civil circulation by manufacturers and importers is observed at the level of the average annual values of previous years.
In March 2024, RBC, citing data from RNC Pharma analysts, reported that India became the largest supplier of medicines to Russia in 2023. For the previous two years, Germany was the leader in the supply of medicines to Russia.
In May it emerged that Russia had developed an artificial intelligence solution to accelerate drug development. Thanks to this, the time it takes to bring new drugs to market can be reduced by three times.
Author:
Nikolai Tikhonov
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
